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CHA sent comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week regarding the proposed rule on the availability of Medicare data for performance measurement. This rule would implement Section 10332 of the Affordable Care Act and provide for the release of standardized extracts of Medicare claims data under Parts A, B and D to certain qualified entities for their use in measuring the performance of providers and suppliers.
In comments, CHA urged CMS to carefully develop a final rule in which qualified entities 1) meet each of the statutory requirements in Section 10332; 2) produce public reports that are valid, reliable, meaningful to both consumers and providers, actionable and user-friendly; and 3) ensure the reporting program is standardized and streamlined to minimize administrative burden on providers and allow comparable results across the country.
In addition, CHA urged CMS to ensure the goals expressed by those seeking such data are aligned with the ongoing national efforts to drive performance improvement, and not initiated simply for measurement sake. Finally, CHA urged CMS to proceed cautiously in releasing data to a relatively few number of experienced qualified entities in order to build on early successes.
CHA’s comment letter can be found at www.calhospital.org/availability-medicare-data-comments. Contact: Alyssa Keefe, (202) 488-4688, akeefe@calhospital.org.
